Ford Motor Company

Ford Racing Simulation, Tools and Methods Manager

Ford Motor Company$141K — $268K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
  • 10+ years of engineering experience in motorsports, automotive, or aerospace.
  • Proven management of Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) simulators.
  • Experience with multi-disciplinary vehicle subsystem model integration.
  • Familiarity with racing tools, telemetry systems, and vehicle dynamics software.
  • Proven track record in AI-based engineering solutions or analytical tool development.

Responsibilities

  • Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing engineering team.
  • Drive the strategic growth and integration of the simulation team.
  • Manage operations and budgets for DiL simulators, ensuring optimal performance.
  • Oversee global expansion initiatives for Ford Racing's simulators.
  • Standardize tools and methodologies across racing teams and Ford PD.
  • Integrate complex vehicle system models into simulations.
  • Facilitate technology transfer between racing and production vehicle teams.

Benefits

  • Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription coverage.
  • Flexible family care days and paid parental leave.
  • Family building benefits, including adoption and fertility support.
  • Employee vehicle discount program and management leases.
  • Tuition assistance for continued education.
  • Active employee resource groups for community engagement.
  • Paid time off for community service and generous holiday schedule.
Full Job Description
Ford Racing is seeking a talented, committed engineer to be a part of their motorsports team as the Simulation, Tools and Methods Manager.

In this position...

We are seeking a visionary, forward-looking engineering leader to serve as our Tools and Simulation Manager (LL5). Based at our Ford Racing Concord facility, you will lead the charge in defining the future of our simulation and analytical capabilities.

In this role, you will directly manage a high-performing team of LL6 Supervisors, oversee simulator operations and budgets, and own the integration of next-generation analytical, AI, and tire modeling tools. As a key strategic leader, you will bridge the gap between elite racing partners (NASCAR, Sportscar, Hypercar, Off-Road) and internal production vehicle teams, while spearheading the physical and technological expansion of Ford Racing's global simulator facilities.

This role is hybrid and requires at least 4 days onsite in Concord, NC.

Responsibilities

What you'll do...

People & Operational Leadership
  • Direct Management: Lead, mentor, and develop a team, fostering a culture of high performance, collaboration, and continuous technical growth.
  • Team Growth & Integration: Lead the strategic growth, development, and integration of the simulation team, building a unified, world-class engineering unit dedicated to the overall success of Ford Racing.
  • Simulator Operations & Budgeting: Own the operational roadmap and annual budgets for the Ford Racing DiL simulators, ensuring maximum uptime, efficient resource allocation, and peak technical performance.
  • Global Expansion: Act as the visionary lead for the growth and deployment of additional simulators as part of the strategic expansion of Ford Racing's global facilities.


Tool, Method & Model Integration
  • Standardization & Commonization: Drive the adoption of common tools, methods, nomenclature, input methods, and overall output formats across Ford Racing, partner race teams, and Ford Product Development (PD) to ensure seamless data exchange and alignment.
  • Cross-Functional Model Integration: Lead the integration of complex, multi-disciplinary models-including vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics, power unit, vehicle controls, and external partner models-into a cohesive simulation environment.
  • Advanced Tool Ownership: Direct the development and deployment of track-side tools. Foster the critical engineering bridges between HHDM and VAST.
  • AI & Future Tech: Own the strategic implementation and future growth of AI-based tools and analytical methods to accelerate vehicle development and simulator fidelity.
  • Tire Model Integration: Drive the integration of advanced tire models into the simulation environment to ensure industry-leading correlation and driver feedback.


Cross-Functional Collaboration & Tech Transfer
  • Cross-Series Learnings: Drive shared learnings and technical synergy across all simulator users, including NASCAR, Sportscar, Hypercar, and Off-Road programs.
  • Race-to-Road / Road-to-Race: Facilitate seamless technology transfer between external racing partners and internal Ford production vehicle teams to elevate both track performance and road car dynamics.


Facility & Asset Management
  • Facility Growth: Interface directly with Ford Land and external partners to lead the physical growth, design, and optimization of the Ford Racing Concord facilities.
  • Asset Alignment: Partner with cross-functional users to forecast future facility requirements and align on the necessary tools to manage the physical assets within the building.


Qualifications

You'll have...

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
  • 10+ years of professional engineering experience in motorsports, automotive, or aerospace.
  • Experience managing and operating Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) simulators.
  • Experience integrating multidisciplinary vehicle subsystem models into simulation environments.
  • Experience using industry-standard racing tools, telemetry systems, and vehicle dynamics software.
  • Experience implementing AI-based engineering solutions or developing advanced analytical tools.


Even better, you may have...
  • Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field.
  • Active personal or professional involvement in competitive motorsports (e.g., professional racing series, club racing, or off-road competition).
  • An established, high-level network within the global motorsports, vehicle development, or advanced simulation industries.
  • Experience managing multi-million dollar operational, testing, and program budgets.
  • Flexibility and willingness to travel, including weekend travel to support key race events and track tests.
  • A deep-seated passion for racing, motorsports, and high-performance vehicle development.


As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder...or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:
  • Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage.
  • Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more.
  • Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more.
  • Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases.
  • Tuition assistance.
  • Established and active employee resource groups.
  • Paid time off for individual and team community service.
  • A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.
  • Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.


This position is leadership level 5 and ranges from $141,700-$268,300.
Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

For more information on salary and benefits, click here.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company manufactures or distributes automobiles in addition to offering financial services. The company sells to dealerships for retail sales, and for sale to fleet customers, including commercial fleet customers, daily rental car companies, and governments. Ford’s vehicle portfolio includes automobiles, buses, tractors, and trucks. Retail financing includes retail installment sale contracts for new and used vehicles, and direct financing leases for new vehicles to retail customers, government entities, daily rental car companies, and fleet customers. Finance receivables in the non-consumer portfolio include products offered to automotive dealers. Ford’s environmental initiatives include compressed natural gas, flexible fuel vehicles, electric drive vehicles, Hydrogen, PC power management, and so on. Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford in 1903 and is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan.

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Learn more about Ford Motor Company
Size
183,000 employees
Market Cap
$44.8 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$1.2 billion
Founded
1903
5 Year Trend
-2.1%
Revenue
$127.1 billion
NASDAQ

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